Front header tube and pin box

ABSTRACT

An upper deck frame assembly for a trailer chassis includes a flushed floor section defining a first floor height, and a header section, with a header, forward of the flushed floor section and defining a second floor height above the first floor height. A towing assembly may be secured to the header. A reduced size header section increases usable floor space, and the towing assembly is securable to the header.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/783,579, filed Dec. 21, 2018, the entire content ofwhich is herein incorporated by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

(NOT APPLICABLE)

BACKGROUND

The invention relates to an upper deck frame assembly for a towabletrailer chassis and, more particularly, to an upper deck frame assemblywith a forward header that improves the use of floor space.

The chassis of a towable trailer such as, for example, a “fifth wheel”style towable recreational vehicle (RV), generally has two maincomponents including a pin box and a chassis floor. The pin box servesto connect the king pin of a truck or towing vehicle to the frame of atowable vehicle in a way that mitigates swaying, chucking, and bouncingmotions while in transit.

FIG. 1 shows an existing upper deck frame assembly 100. The existingassembly typically includes two headers 102 at the front end or upperdeck of the towable trailer. The two headers are mainly used formounting the side plates of the pin box 104. The portion of the floorbetween the two headers, however, cannot be used for livable spacewithin the trailer because of a difference in floor height as comparedto the “flushed floor” section of the upper deck frame assembly. Atbest, the area can be used for storage.

BRIEF SUMMARY

It would be desirable to reduce the lengthwise span of the headersection to increase the size of the flushed floor section. In theproposed design, there may be only one front header tube, which greatlyreduces the lengthwise size of the header portion of the floor. As aresult, a significant amount of the previously unusable portion of thefloor can be used for livable floor space within the trailer.

The pin box assembly is also improved. The pin box assembly includeswrap-around side plates that mount to the front header tube. The headertube may also be designed to mount a gooseneck hitch or gooseneck towingassembly.

In an exemplary embodiment, an upper deck frame assembly for a trailerchassis includes a flushed floor section defining a first floor height,and a header section forward of the flushed floor section and defining asecond floor height above the first floor height, where the headersection includes a header. The header section extends less than 10″along a length dimension of the upper deck frame assembly.

The header section may extend 6-8″ along the length dimension of theupper deck frame assembly. The header may include a tubular beam. Theheader may include a single beam. The header may include a plurality ofbeams.

The assembly may also include a hitch coupling assembly secured to theheader. The hitch coupling assembly may be a pin box assembly with a pinbox mounting frame, where at least a portion of the pin box mountingframe may be positioned forward of the header section. The pin boxmounting frame may include a pair of pin box mounting plates, and thepin box mounting plates may be directly secured to the header. Each ofthe pin box mounting plates may include a shoulder defining a supportsurface for the header and a forward extension secured to a frontsurface of the header. At least one of the pin box mounting plates mayinclude an aft tab positioned aft of the header and including an uppersurface that may be level with the flushed floor section.

In another exemplary embodiment, an upper deck frame assembly for atrailer chassis includes a single forward beam extending across at leasta portion of a width dimension of the upper deck frame assembly, aflushed floor section connected to and extending aft from the singleforward beam, and a hitch coupling assembly secured to the singleforward beam.

In yet another exemplary embodiment, an upper deck frame assemblyincludes a forward beam extending across at least a portion of a widthdimension of the upper deck frame assembly, and a flushed floor sectioncoupled with the forward beam, where the flushed floor section iscoupled directly with the forward beam.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and advantages will be described in detail withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an existing upper deck frame assemblyfor a trailer chassis;

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary trailer incorporating an upper deck frameassembly;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the upper deck frame assembly accordingto the described embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the upper deck frame assembly;

FIG. 5 is a close-up side view of the pin box assembly;

FIG. 6 shows details of the pin box assembly plates secured to theheader;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an exemplary pin box mounting plate;

FIG. 8 is a top perspective view of an alternate upper deck frameassembly;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of another alternate upper deck frameassembly;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an embodiment of an upper deck frameassembly securing a gooseneck hitch assembly;

FIG. 11 is a close-up partial phantom view of the gooseneck hitchassembly secured to the header; and

FIG. 12 is the gooseneck hitch assembly and header of FIG. 11 shown witha cover plate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary towable trailer 1 with a chassis-supportedcabin 2 and a pin box 3 secured to the chassis. The cabin 2 includes anupper section 4 supported on an upper deck frame assembly and a mainsection 5 supported on a lower frame assembly coupled with the upperdeck frame assembly. As noted above, floor space in the upper section 4may be limited by the header connections for securing the pin box 3 tothe chassis. It would thus be desirable to minimize the space occupiedby the header structure to thereby increase the usable floor space inthe upper section 4.

An exemplary upper deck frame assembly 10 according to the describedembodiments is shown in FIG. 3 . The frame assembly 10 includes sidebeams 12 coupled between a forward header 14 and a rear beam 16. A lowerframe assembly 18 is connected to the upper deck frame assembly 10 viathe side beams 12, the rear beam 16 and an interim beam 20. Theconnection, construction and functionality of the lower frame assembly18 are similar to the existing design and thus will not be described infurther detail.

A plurality of sub-beams 22 extend in a lengthwise dimension of thechassis between the header 14 and the rear beam 16. The sub-beams 22 andthe rear beam 16 define a flushed floor section with a first floorheight 24 (see FIG. 4 ). The header 14 defines a header section forwardof the flushed floor section having a second floor height 26 above thefirst floor height. The pin box assembly 3 is secured to the header 14.

With reference to the existing construction shown in FIG. 1 , theheaders 102 of the two-header construction span a width of the upperdeck frame assembly and span a distance A in the lengthwise dimension.In the existing design, the distance A typically exceeds 24 inches. Assuch, the header section in the existing design with a raised flooroccupies a substantial amount of the upper deck frame assemblylengthwise dimension. With the construction of the describedembodiments, in contrast, with reference to FIG. 4 , the lengthwisedimension A′ of the header section (i.e., along the length dimension ofthe upper deck frame assembly) may be less than 10 inches, or morepreferably 6-8 inches. As such, the higher floor height 26 of the headersection with the construction according to the described embodiments canachieve a 75% reduction of occupied space in the length dimension of theupper deck frame assembly.

In one construction, the header 14 is a tubular beam. In FIG. 3 , theassembly 10 is shown with a single beam 14, but additional beams may beadded if necessary for a particular application. In other embodiments,multiple beams may be welded or otherwise coupled to serve as the header14. The header 14 may extend across at least a portion of a widthdimension W of the upper deck frame assembly, which may vary dependingon the style or shape of the upper deck frame assembly or the size ofthe side beams 12. In one embodiment as shown in FIG. 8 , the header 14may extend a substantially shorter distance D than the width dimensionof the upper deck frame assembly.

In another embodiment shown in FIG. 9 , the header tube may be cut,mitered, and welded together to form a V-shaped or pointed header 15.Such an embodiment may be implemented with an upper deck frame assemblywith a curved front so that the header tube uses minimal useable floorspace of the upper deck.

With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 , the hitch coupling assembly may be apin box assembly. A pin box assembly 3 includes a pin box mounting frame28. As shown, at least a portion of the pin box mounting frame 28 may bepositioned forward of the header 14 or header section. The pin boxmounting frame 28 is defined by a pair of pin box mounting plates 30that may be secured directly to the header 14 by welding or the like. Adetailed view of one of the pin box mounting plates 30 is shown in FIG.7 . Each of the pin box mounting plates 30 includes a shoulder 32defining a support surface for the header 14 and a forward extension 34that is securable to a front surface of the header 14. Mounting plates30 may be angled or non-parallel to accommodate the pin box shape. Bentsections 36 may be provided for added structural integrity andstiffness, and holes 38 are provided for mounting a kingpin housing 40(see FIGS. 3 and 5 ). In some embodiments, at least one of the pin boxmounting plates 30 may also be provided with an aft tab 42 positionedaft of the header 14 and including an upper surface that is level withthe flushed floor section (i.e., at the first floor height 24). In otherembodiments, the mounting plates 30 may form a singular U-shapedmounting plate (not shown) that cradles the pin box underneath theheader tube.

As seen in FIGS. 10-12 , the hitch coupling assembly could alternativelybe a gooseneck hitch assembly. A gooseneck hitch assembly 44 may bemounted directly to the header 14 when at least one aperture 46 is cutinto the top and bottom surfaces of the tubular header. The at least oneaperture 46 may be made by laser cut, punch press, or any other suitablemanner. A trailer-mounting end or upper end of the gooseneck assembly 44may be inserted into the at least one aperture 46 and welded intoconnection with the header 14 about the edge of the at least oneaperture 46. The gooseneck hitch assembly may be welded to the header atone or both of the apertures of the top surface 46A and bottom surface46B of the header 14. A cover plate 48 may optionally be welded to thetop surface aperture 46A for reinforcement and protection of thegooseneck assembly. The gooseneck hitch assembly may be secured to theheader in any other known manner in other embodiments.

In addition to the added usable floor space, the described assemblyutilizes significantly fewer pieces than the existing design. That is,the construction of the described embodiments no longer needs supporttubes that run between the front and rear headers, and the pin boxgussets can be eliminated. An added benefit is the reduction in totalweight of the assembly. Even though it is contemplated that the headerof the described embodiments would be made from a thicker wall tube thanthe existing individual header tubes, the total weight of the assemblyis considerably less. Still further, the heavier tube of the header iscloser in thickness to the pin box mounting plates, thereby facilitatingthe welding process. Loading from the pin box mounting plates to theheader is also improved as the load is distributed through all of thewelds along the front, bottom and back of the header, thereby reducingstress levels on the header. In the existing design, there are someareas that are loaded in tension with other areas loaded in compression,which is disadvantageous. The described construction reduces thelikelihood that there would ever be a structural failure, even ifoverloaded or used beyond its intended lifecycle.

While the invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments,it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An upper deck frame assembly for a trailerchassis comprising: a flushed floor section defining a first floorheight; a header section forward of the flushed floor section anddefining a second floor height above the first floor height, the headersection including a header, wherein a difference between the secondfloor height and the first floor height is equal to or less than aheight of the header, wherein the header section extends less than 10″along a length dimension of the upper deck frame assembly; and a pin boxassembly secured to the header, the pin box assembly comprising a pinbox mounting frame including a pair of pin box mounting plates eachhaving a shoulder defining a support surface for the header and aforward extension secured to a front surface of the header.
 2. An upperdeck frame assembly according to claim 1, wherein the header sectionextends 6-8″ along the length dimension of the upper deck frameassembly.
 3. An upper deck frame assembly according to claim 1, whereinthe header comprises a tubular beam.
 4. An upper deck frame assemblyaccording to claim 1, wherein the header comprises a single beam.
 5. Anupper deck frame assembly according to claim 1, wherein the headercomprises a plurality of beams.
 6. An upper deck frame assemblyaccording to claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the pin box mountingframe is positioned forward of the header section.
 7. An upper deckframe assembly according to claim 1, wherein the pin box mounting platesare directly secured to the header.
 8. An upper deck frame assemblyaccording to claim 1, wherein at least one of the pin box mountingplates comprises an aft tab positioned aft of the header and includingan upper surface that is level with the flushed floor section.
 9. Anupper deck frame assembly for a trailer chassis comprising: a singleforward beam extending across at least a portion of a width dimension ofthe upper deck frame assembly; a flushed floor section connected to andextending aft from the single forward beam; and a hitch couplingassembly secured to the single forward beam, wherein the hitch couplingassembly is a pin box assembly, and wherein the pin box assembly issecured to at least a bottom side and a forward side of the singleforward beam, the pin box assembly comprising a pin box mounting frameincluding a pair of pin box mounting plates each having a shoulderdefining a support surface for the single forward beam and a forwardextension secured to a front surface of the single forward beam.
 10. Anupper deck frame assembly according to claim 9, wherein the flushedfloor section defines a first floor height, and wherein the singleforward beam defines a second floor height above the first floor height.11. An upper deck frame assembly according to claim 10, wherein thesingle forward beam extends less than 10″ along a length dimension ofthe upper deck frame assembly.
 12. An upper deck frame assemblyaccording to claim 10, wherein the hitch coupling assembly is one of apin box assembly and a gooseneck towing assembly.
 13. An upper deckframe assembly according to claim 9, wherein the pin box mounting platesare directly secured to the single forward beam.
 14. An upper deck frameassembly comprising: a forward beam extending across at least a portionof a width dimension of the upper deck frame assembly; a flushed floorsection coupled with the forward beam, wherein the flushed floor sectionis coupled directly with the forward beam; and a hitch coupling assemblysecured to the forward beam, the hitch coupling assembly being a pin boxassembly, wherein the hitch coupling assembly is secured to a bottomside and a forward side of the forward beam or is secured verticallythrough the forward beam, the pin box assembly comprising a pin boxmounting frame including a pair of pin box mounting plates each having ashoulder defining a support surface for the forward beam and a forwardextension secured to a front surface of the forward beam.
 15. An upperdeck frame assembly according to claim 14, wherein at least a portion ofthe pin box mounting frame is positioned forward of the forward beam.16. An upper deck frame assembly according to claim 15, wherein the pinbox mounting plates are directly secured to the forward beam.